Vestavia Hills High School stu­dents will be met with new con­struction when they return to school Aug. 20.

The high school is expanding its parking and classrooms and reno­vating its stadium, but Principal Cas McWaters says he doesn't be­lieve surrounding construction will bother students.

"The classrooms that are being built are really out of the way," he said, "so there shouldn't be any im­pact on our existing classrooms."

The school is building 24 addi­tional classrooms and four labs to address future growth. The 9th-12th grade high school had more than 1,800 students in 2011-12 and expects to top 2,000 in five years, school officials say.

The school is adding 381 parking spaces on the northeast side of Lime Rock Road to provide more student parking.

Juniors and seniors can drive to school, but the school has to turn away many because there aren't enough spaces for a growing stu­dent body.

The school is also renovating its stadium. The main part of the sta­dium is on a slope that has eroded over the years. Repairs include sta­bilizing the concrete slabs under­neath the stadium seats. School of­ficials expect those repairs to be completed by the time students re­turn to school.

Homewood

Homewood students will have more freedom to use electronic de­vices during class.

The revised student code of con­duct will include several measures dealing with the appropriate use of technology, said Superintendent Bill Cleveland.

"We've had teachers wanting kids to be able to tweet during class; tweeting your questions as you go along," he said. "They couldn't necessarily do that unless they (teachers) had administrative approval from the principal. It's tough to get that all the time."

The new policy will allow teach­ers and students to use technology in the classroom without needing administrative approval, Cleveland said. "You want them to have that freedom to be able to use that," he said. "The change will allow kids to do that without violating the code of conduct."

Mountain Brook

Mountain Brook students will re­turn to schools that received up­grades and face-lifts during thesummer.

At Mountain Brook High, school officials replaced sliding glass emergency exit doors in classrooms with energy-efficient windows that can be opened during an emergency. The school is also getting a new electronic access system. Instead of using keys, employees can enter with electronic keyfobs. In an emergency, the building can be automatically locked down. But all doors automatically unlock during a fire alarm. The system is powered by the school's emergency generator.

At the junior high school, a multi-purpose room is being converted into two classrooms with storage space, and the school's roof is being replaced. Crestline Elementary is getting a fullsize extended day classroom with access to the gym and playground. The school is also converting a storage room into a classroom.